In brief
Ukrainian forces launched a second drone strike on a Yandex data centre near Moscow, suspending operations of the Russian tech giant’s facilities this week. The attack follows two similar raids earlier in the month and comes days after Donald Trump warned Ukraine to stop striking Russian oil refineries. Yandex, which runs numerous services for millions of users, has suffered repeated outages, while Russia continues to target Ukrainian infrastructure. The conflict now sees both sides intensifying strikes on critical data and energy assets, raising concerns for global information security.
Russian tech giant Yandex has been forced to pause its operations at a data centre near Moscow after the facility was damaged in a Ukrainian drone strike – the third attack on Yandex sites this week.
Yandex, dubbed “Russia’s Google”, reported no injuries at the Vladimir centre east of the capital, but said several services were temporarily unavailable.
Earlier this week, Yandex said it was struggling to maintain services after two of its five data centres were hit in Ukrainian strikes.
The Sunday attack came hours after US President Donald Trump warned that Ukraine should “damn well stop” attacking Russia’s oil refineries. Later on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on X that any de‑escalation steps must be reciprocal and backed by real guarantees.
Following the criticism, Trump said he thinks it’s “time for Ukraine to get a new president.”
Both sides have stepped up attacks on infrastructure as the war enters its fifth year. Kyiv is targeting places that help fund Moscow’s war machine, and the latest raids could force Russia to divert resources to repair Yandex damage.
Yandex confirmed on Telegram that its Vladimir data centre was damaged and that operations were “completely suspended,” though they were working to restore connectivity. The other strikes hit Yandex facilities in Sasovo on Thursday and in Kaluga on Friday.
The tech company emphasised that its data centres are critical for normal operation of its services, and that it was “very difficult to predict” when they would be back online.
On the Russian side, attacks on Ukraine continued through the weekend. The State Emergency Service of Ukraine said six people were injured in overnight strikes on four districts in the south‑eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, and at least 20 people, including four children, were killed in attacks on Zaporizhzhia on Saturday.
